Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-03-05
MsANNess IN GIVING REWARDS.



A London Correspondents Mentions Sew
erai Rather Interesting Cases.
think / read somewhere of Robert
Burns making a remark about mans
meanness in the reward business. If /
remember rightly, a canny Scot, who
had not been as canny about his steps as
with his cash, fell off the pier ut Greenock.
A Greenockite fished him out, and was
rewarded by a shilling. From my expe-
rience with the climate of Greenock
would say that it didn't make much
difference to person whether he was in
the water or on what they sarcastically
call the ''dry'' land there; yet the rescuer
growled little about the meagerness of
the reward. ''It's all right, " said Burns
Tor words to that effect, ''the gentleman
best knows his own value" / heard of
a rich and pious man in Detroit who lost
his pocketbook, containing good deal of
wealth, and when bright young fellow
returned it said, 'sGod bless you, my
boy, heaven will reward your honesty"
'That's all right" answered the boy;
'sbut. if you like TO pay cash down I'll
make large reduction on the celestial
order" The rich man rebuked his flip
pancy and irreverence by giving him
nothing. A Windsor (Canada) man
whom / know very well lost pocket
book that contained his card and $50.
A laboring man brought it to his office.
Ny friend spread the bills OFT, and said
to the man, "How much is it worth to
return that cash to me?" ''Oh, don't
know answered the finder. "Well,
r@oy,ciHor. SIC xxyCrtl, o,,aot,pt Of
money you like to take QUE of that pile.
Whatever is left is my gain, for / never
expected to see it again. Help yourself.
The man, with some reluctance, took out
one of the SO bills. is that too much?'
he asked. mo, it's too little" ''Say
another dollar, then" Better take the
even $6, and leave me the even $50" So
on that basis it was satisfactorily settled,
While on this subject / may mention
an item that appeared the other day in
The Belfast Morning News. The London
correspondent of that paper said that in
1891 an Irish soldier, named Moloney,
saved the life of little girl years old.
That little girl afterwards became queen
of England. The Belfast News gives the
following particulars: HE was walking
near the carriage in which the infant
princess was driving, and when the car
rage was upset he rushed to the child's
rescue, and brought her safely out of the
broken vehicle. He broke his leg, how
ever, in the attempt, and sustained other
injuries, from which he suffered for some
time afterwards. The duchess of Kent,
the queens mother, gave him the reward
of 81 for his heroic act. In few years
he was sent out to India with his regi-
ment, and there he spent upwards Of
twenty years, returning to England a
pensioner on sixpence a day. Being in
great distress sixpence day being I'M
able to maintain the poor fellow-he
wrote to her majesty, reminding her of
the important service he had rendered to
her in early life.
No notice whatever was taken of the
application. Nothing daunted, however,
he wrote again and again, but still no
response came from Windsor. To shorten
the story, he kept reminding her majesty
for nearly twenty years that he had saved
her life, and as he was beginning to think
at last that he could never succeed in
exciting the royal gratitude to do any
thing for him, he received through the
post small donation anonymously. The
following week it was repeated. Upon
the introduction of postal orders he got
one for 81 almost every week, the donor
being still nameless. As the orders.
however, bore the Windsor postmark, he
suspected the source whence they came.
At last one day a slip of paper, which
appeared to have been put into the letter
accidently, revealed the name of the
sender-Sir Henry Ponsonby, the queens
private secretary.-Luke Sharp in De-
troit Free Press.